you by carvana. we'll drive you happy. good morning. it is the top of the hour. so glad you are here with us on "cnn this morning." five things to know for this wednesday, september 13. house speaker kevin mccarthy ordering an impeachment inquiry into president biden without a floor vote. the white house says the process has been, quote, based on lies. we will be joined by ian sams, a spokesman from the white house counsel's office. and kim jong-un and vladimir putin meeting face to face in russia overnight as u.s. officials sound alarm. the manhunt for the escaped killer in pennsylvania enters week two. he is armed and his mother says her son's life has prepared him how to survive. and new york city's pension fund taking action against fox corporation, allowing fox news to spread election lies.

it was the reunion phil has been waiting for. all five members of nsync on one stage together. you can hear to here. how excited phil at the vmas last night. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts now. these are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption. they warrant further investigation by the house of representatives. >> there is not a shred of evidence that president joe biden has committed a crime. this is an illegitimate impeachment inquiry, period, full stop. >> that was house minority leader hakeem jeffries reacting house speaker kevin mccarthy's impeachment inquiry in president biden. it comes two weeks after mccarthy said he would not open

a probe without a house floor vote. hard line conservatives have been pressuring him on this issue and government spending for weeks. republicans have been investigating president biden since they took control of the house in january. they campaigned on the issue. they have shed more light on hunter biden's business dealings which the white house has said that the president has no involvement. mccarthy faced questions tuesday since no concrete evidence of misconduct has been found. >> so joe biden acted, official action -- >> is this an impeachment or impeachment inquiry? impeachment inquiry is the ability to get the information to answer the questions. that's all we're doing. america needs the answers. >> now the white house is planning to send a letter to u.s. news organizations, including cnn, urging them to intensify scrutiny of mccarthy and house republicans for launching the probe without evidence of a crime.

ian sams wrote that letter. he will join us in a few minutes. before that, our senior data reporter harry enten. what does the polling show about what americans feel? >> j is kevin mccarthy doing this? he is feeling a lot of resch from republican congressmen and the republican ways. republican voters who think joe biden did something illegal, this tells you basically that you need to know. the vast majority of republican voters nationwide believe that joe biden did something illegal regarding hunter biden's business dealings and they are putting a lot of pressure on their own congressmen. ic kevin mccarthy has a math problem going on because he has a five-seat majority. basically five republicans go against him, that could be big trouble for him. remember, there were 20 republicans who voted against kevin mccarthy for speaker. those are on the right. they are pressuring him to launch this impeachment inquiry. then there is the 18 republicans

who represent districts that joe biden won in 2020. so he is feeling this tug from the right, pushing him are towards this impeachment inquiry and the tug from the middle saying, no, we don't want to go there. it's a hard math problem for kevin mccarthy. >> what about americans overall? democrats, independents? >> yeah. so take a look here. i think there is this idea that a lot of republicans, hey, donald trump's in trouble, so let's put joe biden in trouble, too. americans don't see it this way. voters who think they did something illegal, 38% of americans believe that joe biden did something illegal with regards to his son business dealings. 53% of americans believe that donald trump did something illegal trying to overturn the 2020 election. so americans overall do not see those two things equally. now, you mentioned independents. i think there are a lot of democrats who are salivate ago at idea of doing something on this because independents don't like joe biden. 66% of them hold an unfavorable

view of him. get this. just # 34% of them think he did something illegal. i think there are a lot of democrats looking at the numbers and saying, hey, republicans are going to go a bridge too far and maybe we will be able to turn this around on its head and be like bring this forward because this 14 a fight that they want to have, something they think could help joe biden going into 2024. >> harry, thank you for the numbers. phil, a lot of interesting numbers. you have the perfect guest to respond to this from the white house. take it away. >> yeah, thanks. i want to dig through the numbers. a lot going on here. first we start with the specifics of what's being followed by house republicans and what the white house things. joining us now the spokesman for the white house counsel's office ian sams. i want to start with something house oversight committee chairman james comer said. one of the three committee chairs leading this process, said a lot of things about what

that investigation entailed up to now. take a listen. >> the president in administration was cooperating with our investigation. we wouldn't have to do impeachment inquiry. unfortunately, we do. we now have every tool we need to move forward successfully. that's where we're headed. >> the idea that -- of cooperation and that's why the republicans are here to this point, what are the areas in which you guys have not been willing to comply up to this point? >> that's a great question for chairman comer. his own committee just on monday members of his own committee put out a memo that outlined that he has received through this process access to reports from the treasury department, access to departments from the fbi, witnesses from the doj and the irs. not to mention, outside of the government. his subpoenas, he has received 12,000 pages of bank records, 2,000 pages of documents from

treasury. so don't take my word for it. just a couple months ago james comer went on fox and said, you know, as the chairman of this committee, everything i have subpoenaed, i have gotten 100% what i asked for. when you ask this question about, oh, what is he talking about? are we obstructing? that question needs to go to him. he needs to be held accountable for the fact that he is saying things that are patently untrue. >> when he talks about the potential for going to court, the tools they believe they have by using an inquiry. is this administration planning to continue to utilize the 2020 office -- 2019 opinion-related to impeachment, it's not valid if there is a floor vote. >> i think republicans in congress have proven these sorts of poking around inquiries are nothing but a wild goose chase that are illegitimate. that question you asked specifically, again you should ask that of speaker mccarthy. he ten days ago went on

television or talked to breitbart or whatever far right news organization they are selling these lies to today and said we will have a full vote of the house. can't be declaration by fee at. he said in 2019, if there was not a vote, it would be edevoid of merit. >> just from an administration legal perspective, as you view process, are clearly prepared for it. from an administration perspective, do you view that counsel's opinion as the guiding force as you deal with this? >> yeah, i understand the question. i think we are going to see what they are going to do. i don't want to speculate on what the house republicans may or may not ask vote. they won't even vote for it and even say what they are impeaching him for. we will have to see. >> what they are impeaching him

for, republicans have been clear that they don't have a lot of -- republican moderates are clear they haven't seen direct evidence yet. mccarthy laid out as the rationale for going this route. the idea that there are dhs there was a trusted fbi nft enlt that provided information about alleged bribes to the biden family. what is your response to that allegation? >> what's interesting about that is that the source of this alleged bribe told the congress during president trump's first impeachment that that's not true, he had never asked president biden of anything. so the very source of this so-called allegation has already refuted it. and that's come out as part of the years of republican investigations targeting the president, baselessly going after him without any evidence, just to try to score political points that they have been doing almost half a decade now. i think that the question we need to focus on here, is this what the congress should be focused on? the american people need their

leaders in washington to be focused on them. that's what the president is doing. you see him talking about our investment to take on cancer research today -- >> i understand. i just want to -- >> when it comes to the bribe, you know, these are allegations they have been making without matter it's for months -- >> the point i am trying to make sheer is to -- and this has been your position for long time and i have covered the policy side of this white house quite a bit over the last several years. i understand that. i want to tick through these to have you respond. this is the basis of it. the idea of bank records show that nearly 20 million in payments were directed biden family members and associates. the trade deaeasury department flagged as suspicious activity. anything in there the response to in terms of how links to the president? >> "the washington post" fact checked that and found it false. the members of the house oversight committee stated that there was no tie to president

biden. so yet again they have had access to these documents and they have turned up no tie to the president. and that's from their own members. >> the idea of -- there has been special treatment -- the president's family afforded special treatment by the biden administration as to relates to hunter biden's plea deal and that eventually fell apart and where it stood. >> yeah, i mean, the president is clear about this since before he even took office, that the justice department and his administration is independent. he has not been involved in that case. he has not talked to anybody about that case. don't take his word for it. take the words of the gop's own witnesses in the house who testified in an open hearing that neither attorney general garland nor president biden interfered in this case. so their other witnesses, their own investigations. not only are they not turning up evidence of the allegations they claim, they are actively refuting the allegations that the speaker is leaning on to

launch this baseless impeachment. >> another allegation is that the president was present at some of the meetings between hunter biden and his business associates. why was the president at those meetings on those phone calls? >> well, again, this is part of the right-wing's misinformation machine to try to confuse people about what the truth is. the truth is that the president, as he said publicly for years, calls his family every day to check in. he calls his son every day to check in. he calls his other family members to check in to see how they are doing. he loves them. they are a tight-knit family. what the gop's own witness testified in this case is that that's exactly what the president was cog. he was checking in with hunter during a particularly hard time, a time where the family was going through hunter's brother beau's illness. of course the president checks in. again that witness testified no business dealings of hunter biden's or anyone's was discussed in these

conversations. then they are trying to make this sort of strange connection when their own investigation has disproven these claims. >> before i let you go, is the president -- in terms of how the president reacted to this, especially somebody who has been in politics and in washington for as long as he has about been, the idea that he is subject to an impeachment inquiry as president of the united states, what is his response to that? >> the president has been in politics for a long time. i think as he would say, he has seen a lot of malarkey along the way, but this might take the cake. he focused on issues that matter to the american people. you just saw him, our economic interests in asia. showing american leadership on the world stage. he coming become here. he is announcing today a quarter billion dollars investment in cancer research to try to finally cure cancer. that's what he is focused on every day, the actual needs of the american people. and i think what he would say is

maybe the house republicans should join him. >> you know, one thing -- and this will be my last one. a lot of people in washington right now -- and i know this is probably going to drive your team crazy that i ask it this way because it matters because it's accurate because the columnist is well respected within the building behind you. what is your response? it's not about the president, it's about the vice president who you worked for in the 2020 campaign. >> i am governed by the -- i want to be careful. the president has announced he is running for re-election and the president is going to make his case to the american people. and i'll refer you to the campaign for campaign questions. this president has a lot to be proud of and to run on. he delivered some of the most consequential achievements and economic progress, the chips bill, the inflation reduction act, that's what he is going to be talking about versus these sort of political sideshows that

congressional republicans are starting to launch into right now. >> any expectation he will weigh in on this anytime soon? >> the president can speak for himself. i think he will focus on what the american people want him to focus on, which is improving them, their lives, their families, not these political attacks on him and his family. >> ian sams, appreciate your time this morning. thank you. >> thank you zoo . >> really important with the questions and trying to get some answers that the american people deserve this morning. our senior political analyst john avlon, errol lewis. thank you all for being here i want to start with you. i think phil, you know, did a masterful job of saying here is mcc what mccarthy said. why isn't president biden answering these questions or

coming out proactively and saying let me detail for you american people my interactions with my son, when they happened, why they happened, and what the substance was? >> probably what the white house team wants to do is not elevate those claims. if you say that the claims are bogus, politically motivated and unimportant to the american people, the fastest way to reverse that impression is to have the president take time and -- >> i am not suggesting -- i am have the president take time and -- >> i am not suggesting -- i am not suggesting a direct response to each of the claims. but coming out and saying here is, you know, is and what were my interactions with my son. here is the truth. >> io oblition to go out andelp them. if the fact th arenown as phil laid out, and i hdid grt job, ithat's what its, those of us who lieve that

impeachment is aolemn ans detai obvious claims of malfeasance, high crimes and merchandise is -- misdemeanors ithe language, a phone call six yea go about ausiness transaion? what are we talking about here? i would beotherethe president took timto answer a claim that had so litt behind it ithey he re that yb we can tking about. >> anything is worthy of investation. the investigations to date haven't turned up a lot of hard eviden, incling the people interviewed by in commtee. so rushing to an impeachment historic gravif imachment e proceedings which traditioll are ask undertaken when the present has the whiteouse is not takinthis seriously.

is that wi? is that nable? i don't think he should give checker speech now. mccahy is rced by right flantohe extent he doe't want to take a vote, which may be required, according to doj statutes. >> let's be clear. th a n tina vote because they don't have the votes. period. d of story. the reason they are heading into is thing mccarthy saidefore e 2022lectio he wa't going to d-- the american people would decide before he said he was readto do it he has to befor-- period, end of story. that's literally happening. to t idea as you look at that, the idea we are doing th because we need more investigative ols, scic commits that are leading the g inquiry don'have the power to have, is that valid? >> i think it's importt to draw a distinction between investigations have alrey been you have the doj which has the most extensive tools -- i mean,

i have been a federa distinctio investigations have alrey been you have the doj which has the most extensive tools -- i mean, i have been a federathse committee as good as they can be at times is going to uncover different. that's super important. they have been engaged in a house investigation for months. that has not uncovered a link between president biden and any alleged wrongdoing by hunter biden. and i think it's all -- to draw a distinction between what's happening with president biden, former president trump, when grand juries conduct investigations -- and that's a good model for a thorough,

problem investigation, what it looks like. it's based on something when it starts. it's not a whim of one individual. a grand jury is made up of individuals, everyday americans, that come together, consider evidence and take a vote and find probable cause in making meaning -- it's more likely than not that a crime as committed. that's what happened to president trump. that's why he is indicted. that's a proper basis to move forward on serious charges in that case criminal. but here what you are talking is something different. it's folks moving forward with a serious investigation based on a whim, not based on facts, not based on tumbing down -- >> yeah, we got to go. there is a telling -- in the speakary press conference. we had new allegations rise in the last couple of months which drew them to this. not new evidence. new links. allegations. i was like, wait, that's -- i feel like my head is going to explode sometimes. all right, guys, appreciate it for walking us three.

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putin signaled the willingness to assist north korea with its space and satellite program. in defiance of international sanctions. key to be a supplier to moscow, a soin of how desperate the kremlin has become. it's not clear if the two sussed this possible arms deal. joining us now is cnn national security analyst former deputy director of national -- good morning. i was surprised how much information we got out of this meeting. but there is also a few things we didn't get. we don't know if anything was agreed to in writing and we don't know on the arms front what could have been shared. what are your questions this morning? what did this reveal to you? >> well, i think that, you know, we are seeing two effects here. one is symbolic. the fact that they made this very public. this not a hidden thing. and the words that were used, especially by kim, really reinforcing what he called the

just war for putin, and talking about this shared hatred of u.s. and shared anti-imperialist stance. we are seeing this im bowlism and this unification of russia and north korea, a resurgence of that traditional alliance, which also brings in china. on the practical side, you know, i think we really need to be watching what comes out of this. they said no agreements were signed. at the same time, when putin was asked, you know, are you going to help north korea with satellites? he said, that's why we're here. we are at the cosmodrome. so i think that they are going to help in some way. certainly north korea looks at russia and says, wow, you know, they pretty much have everything we need. >> beth we, have to interrupt you. we have some breaking news that we are going to take you. stand by. >> this is cnn breaking news.

>> that breaking news is we have been following for more than a week every single. danelo cavalcante. th the convicted murderer is in custody according to a law enforcement source. they have been esearching over the course of more than two, almost two weeks at this point. just over course of the last 36 hours, cavalcante was able to obtain a firearm.22-caliber rifle, a scope, added urgency to a long and stressful time for law enforcement officials and those living in the community. >> danny freeman is live with the breaking news. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, i can tell you i got off the phone with a law enforcement source very close to this investigation, very close to this manhunt who confirmed to cnn that cavalcante has been taken into custody. again, as you said, after 14 days on the run, 14 days after

escaping from the chester county prison, this is the update we are learning today. this is an answer to a question that so many residents in chester county have been waiting for, a resolution to this search. we are getting confirmation from pennsylvania state police there will be a press conference coming up in just over 30 minutes at 9:00 a.m. where we will hear more details about this capture. i want to paint a picture for you this morning. we have seen a lot of law enforcement officers and agents come into this area. we are on the perimeter in south coventry township. we have seen for the past, i would say, hour to hour and a half or so, low-flying helicopters, maybe a mile, two miles south of where we are standing right here, and, you know w we have been seeing air support, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft fly over the larger area over the last 24, 48 hours. this morning we saw helicopters focus on a tighter circle.

now, at the moment the last confirmed sighting that we were alerted of prior to this capture was back on monday night. that was when cavalcante was able to get his hands on a rifle because it was left in an open garage and that clearly accepted up the intensity of this investigation and this manhunt. law enforcement saying that they brought as many as 500 law enforcement agents to this area of chester county to try to flush him out. it seems they have done that this morning. again, a law enforcement source confirming to me just a few minutes ago that danelo cavalcante is now in custody. back to you for now. >> danny, do you know how they got him? where exactly they got him? >> reporter: listen, that is a good question. we are waiting on those details. i am working my sources. the source i spoke to had to get off the phone quickly after i reached out to that person. but like i said, you know, we are looking at these -- this helicopter specifically just, you know, off camera here, this

state police helicopter. it's very low and it's in part of this wooded area that we have been discussing this whole time. the specific area a little bit farther south there is a creek running along this main route 100 we are standing on. that could be the area that police are searching and focused on. like i said, the troopers are flying down to that area, the helicopter has been low and we are waiting for more details that we will, hopefully, get around 9:00 a.m. when pennsylvania state police will hold a press conference presumably announcing this capture officially. >> did you notice a tempo shift? you talk about how you could see the air assets and vehicles. did you notice something change over the last hour, or has this been a steady effort over the last couple of days? >> reporter: so, here the thing. definitely has been a steady effort certainly since last -- yesterday, right, when we found out that cavalcante had a rifle.

obviously, law enforcement really changing their tone, saying we are going to make this intense push today. but honestly, phil, this morning when we saw law enforcement presence returning to this area, it still seemed pretty business as usual. there were some updates -- rather, some activity overnight, but we saw what looked like the regular shift change at around 7:00 this this morning. they brought in the armored vehicles again. we saw them bringing in the pennsylvania state police horses that we've seen combing through some. river beds again. all of that, frankly, seemed pretty normal of what we've seen the past 24, 48 hours, specifically this part of chester county. like i said, the thing that stood out to me and our crew on the ground was the more tightly focused aerial support because, you know, when we've been seeing those choppers up, these fixed wings up, they are making large miles-long circles around the area. really you think looking to see

if they can spot anything or even just providing support to troopers on the ground. take a look here. take a look there. but this has been a very, very focused circle. i think you can hear some folks honking as the news starts to spread danelo cavalcante has been captured. there is support from local folks at this intersection at the northeast corner of this perimeter. phil. poppy. >> excellent reporting. stay with us as we bring in cnn chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst john miller. they got him, john. >> they got him. it appears that they captured him without incident, meaning as far as i could tell he is okay, they're okay. >> that's remarkable, right? >> some of the fears we have opinion talking about may not have been realized. this seems to have happened fairly recently. so with where do we reqgo from here? number one, he is in custody. the first thing they'd like to do is talk to him, where have

you been, what have you done, who helped you? they probably can't do that because he is currently represented by counsel in his murder case, which is on appeal. so likely that won't happen. second thing is, he is in custody, they are going to take him to another facility. i am about 100% sure it will not be the one he escaped from. a more secure facility. he was to be transferred from that county facility to a state prison, but because he is, obviously, an extreme escape risk, not just an escape risk, they will have to take him somewhere else. >> i want to go back to the question poppy asked. the surprise that there was -- it doesn't seem to have been any incident, no use of his weapon that we know of up to this point. we were talking to 20 minutes prior that seepmed an

inevitability. why do you think that was? >> whe don't know what we don't know. the models are worn out and tired and ran into him and he surrendered peacefully. the other model is he tends to sleep by daylight and operate by night light. they may have come upon him when he was asleep. these are details they are putting together. we are expecting a press conference that will be between 9 and 9:30, probably closer to 9:30, where we will hear the story. but the simple parts of it is, it's over and it appears everybody is okay. >> so if you were a journalist, we know danny will be at the 9:30 a.m. press conference, what are the most pressing questions police authorities need to answer? >> where has he been? how did he get so far? and what was his reaction to being captured? it's going to be interesting. was he awake, surrendered

peacefully, was a chase, whether he had the gun with him or it was in a stash somewhere. there is a lot we are going to learn. >> all right. john, stay with us. we have the official tweet coming out from pennsylvania state police. i want to pull that up. a press conference announcing details of the capture of danelo cavalcante is scheduled for 9:30 aim at the fire company in kenneth square, pennsylvania. the capture in all caps. certainly you can understand that emphasis. i think the frustration you could hear in some of the past press conferences from law enforcement as they went through this. at 9:30, as you noted, from a law enforcement perspective, again, i think we were to some degree surprised over the course of the last two weeks it took this long, even though the search area was not ten states wide. you never were. why not? >> because if you look at the

stats, most people who break out of prison are literally arrested within 24 hours and most of them walking on the road away from the prison. this was a person who had a plan. this was a person who had the intestinal fortitude to undergo many challenges while on the run. his mother told us about a lot of that. >> these -- sorry to interrupt. this is the first we are seeing of danelo cavalcante. he is in custody. john, walk us through what you see here. >> i see a s.w.a.t. team, which is probably the people who took him into custody. and i see a guy who has a change of clothes that we are not familiar with, which is a new sweatshirt and a dark pair of pants. there were reports that a backpack was found overnight that had hipgs in it, clothing items and so on, may have been his. is that possibly what spurred them into a certain area? but he has been doing these kind

of home invasions and burglaries and garage siftings, trying to find different outfits to keep changing his appearance, and, you know, our last reporting was he was shirtless. he clearly has had these stashes while hiding out. you can tell even as he is walking, he is a guy who is worn down from this flight. >> we talked about the scale of the federal state resources. what we are looking at now, you mentioned the s.w.a.t. team, any sense of who they -- there are different uniforms along with the s.w.a.t. officials there. who we are looking at. why there are so many of them? >> well, i think, number one, every s.w.a.t. team in pennsylvania, give or take, you know, had contributed people to that, as well as the fbi, the atf, customs and border patrol, a lot of specialized units. you know, the fbi is operation -- >> they are cutting off his shirt now.

why? >> could be for purposes of identification, meaning -- >> that tattoo on his back. >> he is known to have specific tattoos and they want to be able to confirm that they have not just a guy wandering in the woods, but the guy. >> i am going to bring danny freeman in on the ground. we are just learning that this reverse 911 call has gone out to people on the ground telling them the search for danelo cavalcante is over. the suspect is now in custody. remember, this was a community terrorized by this, told to stay inside, and authorities want them to know that he is caught. >> that's absolutely right. remember, it's not just this immediate community that we are in right now in south coventry township. it's chester county and many of the neighboring counties as well who have been on edge for 14 days since this inmate escaped. looking at some of those live

photos, i mean this is the moment that so many in law enforcement have really been waiting for as well. they have been waiting for the moment that this they could bring him into custody. i am sure they are glad that we have aerial footage of this whole process taking place. you see pennsylvania state police and you see enormous assets as well that have been brought in over the course of this investigation, especially in the past 48 hours, when there was this truly intense show of force after that revelation came out that cavalcante did, indeed, get his hands on a rifle. but no doubt -- like i said before, we have been out here at this particular intersection on the corner. northeastern most part of this perimeter. a few miles, it seems, from where helicopters are watching cavalcante from above, and folks have been applauding. there have been honks towards the troopers. there is definitely a sense of relief and, frankly, thanks that

pennsylvania state police and had entire state, federal, local law enforcement apparatus has been able to apprehend cavalcante here. >> john, back to what we have been watching on the screen here. it gets to what you expected might be happening. not only was his sweatshirt and t-shirt taken off, cut off, he didn't have his pants on either, and then they were taking photos. you think that's an identification of markings or tattoos? >> right. exactly. i mean, there is another step to that. they have his biometrics. so they have his dna because he has been a prisoner. they have his prints. but these are the immediate identifications they can make toe make sure that they have a person who fits the unique characteristics, if not the biometric characteristics, of the person they are looking for. >> if you are just joining us, i want to reset the breaking news. you are looking at live pictures of the capture of escaped fugitive danelo cavalcante, convicted murderer who has been on the lam more than two weeks,

and these are aerial images of an enormous s.w.a.t. team taking him down, cuffed, putting him into the van, cutting off his shirt as they identify him. scott duffey joins us. the context of this, you did something similar in 1999 with an escaped killer on the run. what are your thoughts as we wait for this press conference? >> well, good morning to you both. thanks for having me on. i am feeling the same chills just watching the same thing that everybody is watching and brings back all of the flood of emotions from 1999. the fact that he is caught. the fact that no -- from what i gather, nobody injured. fantastic. and to have taken him into custody is just -- there is a lot of emotions, as i saw the -- all the different vehicles kind of rushing out on the scene, trying to head to wherever they are going. they are all feeling the same

thing, that one moment of elation just bringing calmness to a ravaged community and they are probably all heading to put eyes on him, to say this is who we have been looking for for the last two weeks. so it's a tremendous celebration, especially with all that is being said, the professionals got him. they took the fight to him and they took him into custody without -- it looks like without incident. >> can you describe kind of the combination of anxiety and intensity that would be felt just before this moment? like how these guys were feeling, law enforcement, looking out on the ground over the course of the last several days, especially when they found out he was armed? >> yeah. that just raised the tensions to a whole new level. law enforcement is on high alert, right? and so everybody's looking up. they are looking 360. but then to have confirmation

that he took a gun and that he is armed, just send that acute awareness to a whole new level. so, you know, you have the neighbors that are locking doors and doing everything, shutter in place. but law enforcement is out there and they are searching day and night, especially with the storms last night. but to be able to zero in on him, from what i gather, get the right people in place, tactical units, it's game over. and especially to be able to walk him to a police car, there is just no words to describe. law enforcement is -- that high is still very high. they are all on cloud nine and will be for some time. >> john miller, i want you to weigh in here. in your expertise. we are seeing it live play out here. we are waiting for the press

conference at 9:30. your thoughts? >> this is reflective of other manhunts we have seen. and other manhunts in pennsylvania, it's really interesting. these are fairly rare occurrences. but in just the past recent years, you had the case of eric frien, domestic terrorist who opened fire on pennsylvania state police. that was a 48-day manhunt through the woods using the same tactics. many of the same people. it ended in a terrible shootout where the face of this investigation, the voice of this investigation, george bivens, the lieutenant colonel from the state police, said was the most intense gun battle he had ever seen in his career, much more recently, in july, the case of michael burnham, a survivalist, a former military man who went into the woods. that lasted about ten days. and you see the marshals, the

u.s. marshals. they are in the man hunting business. the state police. they have been through this, as our agent was just describing, multiple times in similar dynamics. in some way, this is a familiar ending for them. much better than in the frien case, and similar to the burnham case. but i think these things have brought them closer together as a team. >> can i ask you what they are doing right now? i expected them to put him in the van, close the door and go. are they interrogating him right now? are they asking him questions? what are they doing in there right now with him? >> i don't think that they can get too far into the interrogation except for the public safety part of it, which is anything that would constitute an immediate threat to somebody else because, as we talked about before, he is represented by a lawyer. but i think probably they are settling more on where are we

going, where are we bringing him, are they ready? >> that's a good point. are they ready to take him in, wherever we are taking him. >> right. for those of you watching on the left is just moments ago we saw danelo cavalcante who was led in handcuffs and what looked to be different clothing than earlier this the week. we knew he changed clothes, in handcuffs to the picture where on your right he has been loaded in handcuffs into that law enforcement vehicle. before being loaded in, his sweatshirt and pants removed what we believed identification purposes. still waiting to see where he will head next. i want to did danny freeman a question. just because he has been on the ground. you have literally covered this seems like every hour of the last 14 days. the community itself, we have -- i know it's been a long couple of weeks. but the community itself, we

talk about where law enforcement is, what their strategy is, what their plan is. the community itself, when you talked to people in the community, i try to imagine the fear as a parent, as somebody who would live in the area. what was your sense of that? >> reporter: well, a step further, phil. not only as a parent, but someone who lives in the area. i spoke to a gentleman who a contributor for cnn. he came up to this area because his mother lives in the search perimeter. he said i am just afraid because my mom is here, basically by herself, and i want to stay over to give some sort of peace of mind and comfort. that's really what people have been thinking about. how do i secure my home, protect my house, because as of monday night, they knew he was here. turns out he was here the whole time. let me talk about this, phil. we are looking at the these pictures now. i have a little bit more information as to where this is. let's be clear.

this capture, it appears, happened smack dab in the middle of this most recent perimeter that the police set up. we are in south coventry township on the northeastern portion of this perimeter and i am looking at the map, and we can see where some of the helicopters that are providing this live footage are, seems that it's just maybe a mile, two miles south of where we are, just off of route 100. and i am looking at the map here again where the images where this intense police presence and you can see there is the french creek, the location that we have been talking about when we have been asking law enforcement folks where they are searching, and it's also centered close to priser road, which is an offshoot of pots down pike. so signs here seem to suggest that this capture happened in this perimeter. and that has been one. main messages that pennsylvania state police has been trying to

stay from the moment cavalcante escaped the longwood gardens area am. we believe he in this perimeter. we believe we have him contained. we set up troopers everybody 200, 300 feet to try to seal him in, to try to trap him in, and ultimately flush him out. it seems at this moment that is what happened here and you can see the law enforcement agents gathering out there on the scene waiting to see where in vehicle goes next, and i'm sure at 9:30 when this pennsylvania state police press conference occurs we will get more details how they were able to take danelo cavalcante into custody. >> this vehicle that our viewers are watching, a motorcade now surrounding it, has danelo cavalcante inside. john miller, where is he going? and when he gets there, what happens? >> they anticipated, i think in optimistic terms they would catch him. they must have a designated

space they intend to bring him. he will undergo a medical check and then intake process and then sort outz whose prisoner he is. part of what we saw as kind of the delay of getting him in the back of that bearcat, which is a bulletproof vehicle, was figuring out, okay, who -- in whose custody is he? is it you? is it the marshals? is it the state police? what are we use sng the federal warrant? the unlawful flight to avoid prosecution? using the state warrant? they are sorting that out. but he is definitely going to a police facility and then likely either medical people medical p brought there to check him out or he will be brought to a medical facility, but given his history all that's going to be done on a very tight security basis. >> i know this sounds like a silly question but he was already serving, i believe, up to a life sentence convicted of murdering his girlfriend.

does anything change for him now in prison? >> conditions will. you know, it's not a silly question, it's actually quite interesting because part of the psychological calculus here is a guy with nothing to lose. he's serving life in prison, he is wanted in brazil for another case, you know, he is -- he is a guy with no prospects of ever getting out of prison. so thus his motive to escape, but because he's going to be carried as an escape risk, as a tier 1, you know, risk prisoner, his -- the facility he's going to be put in is not going to be a regular prison, it's going to be maximum security, the conditions he is held in may be segregation or more stringent than regular prisons because of his history. his life is going to be as bad as it was before, but a little worse. >> those dynamics, i think we

already asked about it, but, scott, if we still have you, are you surprised that this seems like this has clearly based on what we have seen ended without incident. that there were no gunshots fired that we know of at this point, nobody was injured, no hostages were taken, that it appears that he was taken somewhat peacefully and is now on his way to prison? >> yeah, i guess i would say i am surprised. when he took that gun, that was an outward sign that i am not giving up and the fact that he wasn't fleeing the area. he had his chance once he broke the initial perimeter, once he got to an area that he was familiar with, once he figured out that, okay, family, friends or associate is not going to give me what i need, i'm going to still go because i'm still ahead of law enforcement, but he stayed, and he stayed and he got a gun. >> john miller wanted to chime in here. john? >> so as you look at them walking you will see one of the

s.w.a.t. officers just on the right side of your screen has his weapon but he's carrying a separate weapon that is apparently the .22 long rifle with the scope on it which indicates it was recovered with him. >> the third guy that is behind holding? >> exactly. so as i was looking at them walking i was looking for who has more than one rifle and that rifle fits the description of the one that was stolen. >> for shurs, it's -- if you are looking at the screen, again, this was from moments ago, danelo cavalcante is in the vehicle on the right side of your screen, the left side of the screen the man in the uniform on the far right he's holding with a gun with a scope which john points out is likely the weapon that had been obtained by danelo cavalcante and really, i think, ramped up a whole new level of urgency in this investigation. >> it's indicative of the fact that they have him in cuffs here and that weapon there that it was likely found on him, near him, with him during this capture, which of course is -- has been one of the great concerns throughout this hunt in

the last 24 hours. >> john, stick with us, danny freeman, just so remarkable, from the way he escaped from prison, crab walking up that wall, to being on the run for two weeks, to getting a firearm, which is now in the hands of the marshals there. so many questions about what happens to him now, danny, when he gets to jail again. >> reporter: well, the first thing that we understand about where he may ultimately be heading now is that he will not be going to any county-run jail or prison. they will be sending him to a state facility, which is run statewide. so that will be in a much more hopefully secure environment where they will keep him for the foreseeable future. remember, he already was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, so they can probably just expedite that process now. but, poppy, i want to back up and just give some context. this has been a strange summer when it comes to prison escapes in and around pennsylvania.

we saw two inmates escape a philadelphia prison back earlier in the spring, then we saw that manhunt for michael burham back in the northwest part of the state as well and now we have this particular escape with danelo cavalcante. this was the longest escape of these that have gotten a lot of attention over the course of the summer. law enforcement sources told me that they really wanted to beat the record of about 12 or 13 days or 10 days in one days for the other escapes. it's been a long journey for law enforcement. they've been out in these woods in chester county in a lot of times braving intense heat with all of their tactical gear. they've also had to contend with weather as well. there's been a lot of rain over the past two weeks. this is a moment that i know pennsylvania state police, u.s. marshals have been waiting for for quite a long time. as you keep noting also the community of chester county has been on edge for 14 days.

now this nightmare really which is what it was, especially after getting a hand on a gun, this nightmare finally over for this community. >> a sense that people can exhale across the board, including to some degree yourself, danny. first you have to go to a press conference so we're going to let you break free. great reporting as it has been every single day for the last 14 days. scott, as we kind of close out i want to ask a great question, a great question poppy had for john. in this press conference that danny is going to be heading over to now. what's the first question you have for law enforcement? >> i think it would be did he say anything. i would want to know what was the moment that he's caught. did his hands go up, did he lay down, or what was that moment at the very moment of capture? that's what i would want to know. did he say anything? did he -- like thank god this is over.

i would want to know what was in his mind at the time that he gave up. >> john miller when are we going to know where he is going? when he gets there, literally? >> we are probably going to know where he's going, exactly, when that helicopter shot shows that vehicle going into a building. >> can i ask you about that? we've shown this again. what you are seeing on the left of your screen is moments ago before he got into the vehicle on the right as law enforcement, the s.w.a.t. forces were walking him to the vehicle you see now. where they all kind of surrounded him and took a photo, i think there were search dogs in there as well. is that -- why? >> that is probably for their twitter feed and, you know, the why is interesting. we live in a world where they have been extraordinarily transparent and in touch with a very engaged, very engaged community. reverse 911 calls, the chessco alert system which pushes

information to people's phones and they've been putting out scary messages not just there is an escaped prisoner be on the lookout, but lock your doors, lock your cars, secure your items because he is in your area now and these have been gio coded. so the idea of taking that picture, this is him, we know it's him, he's in custody, we caught him -- >> you are not saying personal twitter feed for all the individuals, you're saying it's an actual from a public relations and community perspective, a demonstration. >> i think they need to put out to the community on the same channels. >> so people can see it, right? >> so send them messages of concern that you can exhale now and go back to your normal lives and, you know, send your kids back to school and a bunch of things. so i think it had a legitimate public purpose, rather than just for their photo collection. >> control room has this photo isolated, i want to show everyone, what can you tell us there, john, that is happening? this is the gun they believe

that he stole, right? >> right. so from here it looks like -- it looks like a bolt action .22, it looks like it has a scope clearly on top of it and that is the description of the gun that was leaning against the garage wall when he ran in, found the home opener in the garage and took that while he fled. he had shods fired at him, but it's also the weapon because of its configuration that has been of tremendous concern. basically it's a hunting weapon. while it's a .22 which is probably not armor piercing, but it does have a scope which means it can shoot accurately from a long distance. when you're searching for somebody in the words who can get a bead on you, that's a real concern and that, of course, changed the tenor of this in the last day. >> final thought as we have just a little bit of time left as we continue to watch this. >> what you saw here was

fantastic teamwork and when i say "fantastic teamwork" it wasn't agencies jostling for who was in charge or who was going to get, you know, the most face time or tv time, this was a team that had done this before together and has done it again and they must feel very good about the outcome and that it was peaceful. >> we're going to hear from that team at 9:30 when the pennsylvania state police holds a press conference. again, danelo cavalcante after 14 days has been taken into custody. we've been watching the process of him being loaded into the vehicle you see on your right. a community can exhale, law enforcement can exhale and a convicted murderer is now heading back into custody. cnn's breaking coverage of the capture of murderer danelo cavalcante continues right now with "cnn news central." stay with us. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. as you hear, we're beginning